Chapter 41: Adam’s Final Fate
Chapter 41: Adam’s Final Destiny
In the café, Eldad and Arthur talk about matters concerning the Royal Society and the Royal Academy of Fine Arts.
Suddenly, Officer Tom, who was originally listening to Darwin’s lecture, suddenly stood up, nodded apologetically to Darwin, and then came to Arthur’s side and whispered.
“Arthur, I would like to take a leave of absence from you this afternoon.”
Arthur asked, “Leave of absence? Something going on at home?”
Tom crossed his arms and lowered his head, looking a little embarrassed, “Indeed …… there is indeed something wrong.”
Seeing this, Tony couldn’t help but scold, “Tom! You always this goat appearance! Do men can not put the waist straight? Leave on leave, why do you look like you have done something wrong? Arthur is not Willox, you think he will deduct your salary?”
Tom glared back at Tony in annoyance, “Isn’t it because I feel sorry for Arthur? I took my leave on the first day he transferred us to the district police station, how embarrassing is that!”
Arthur didn’t really take it to heart, but he could see that Tom should have something on his mind.
So he pointed to the clock in the cafe and asked, “Taking a vacation is no big deal. But it’s almost twelve now, why don’t you stay for lunch before you leave. You don’t have to be polite today, the meal is on me for all four of you.”
Elder, who was sitting across from Arthur, heard this and spoke with a smile, “Yo! Arthur! Being a police inspector is different, you’ve become so generous. How much do you get in your hands in a year?”
Arthur glanced at him and faintly said, “Around a hundred pounds.”
“A hundred pounds without adding back income? Heh! Then I’m not welcome!”
Elder whipped his head around and shouted at the waiter at the bar, “Bring me four more oysters! By the way, do remember to remove the eggs from the leeches!”
At the end of his speech, Elder also cheerfully rushed Tom and asked, “Brother, what do you want to eat, I’ll order it together for you.”
Tom sniffed and waved his hand, “I don’t have to, I’m still in a hurry, I won’t eat for lunch.”
Arthur picked up his coffee cup and took a sip, pretending to be inattentive, he asked, “What are you doing, in such a hurry? Is your wife expecting a baby? If it’s that she’s having a baby, I can give you a few more days off, no need to rush back.”
Seeing that Arthur was so concerned about him, Tom was too embarrassed to continue hiding it.
He embarrassedly rubbed the back of his head, lowered his head and spoke, “My wife is still a while away from giving birth, you don’t have to worry. My leave of absence is for Little Adam, today is the day he gets out of jail.”
Arthur frowned and asked, “What does Adam getting out of jail have to do with you? Are you planning on picking him up?”
Tony chimed in, “Ugh, Tom you’re such a rotten bastard, it’s not like it’s the first time the kid’s been in jail, he recognizes the way home.”
Tom blushed and held his tongue for half a day before he got up the courage to say.
“Arthur, Tony, you two probably don’t know. The day before yesterday Adam, that gambling old man of his, got drunk and brawled in the street and beat a man to death.
The verdict from the Magistrate’s Court came in yesterday, and the final sentence was fourteen years’ banishment from Australia and a twenty pound fine.
When I went to Adam’s house by order of the court to collect the debt, I found that Adam’s mother had run off with the family’s valuables.
His father was in exile, his mother was nowhere to be found, and you should know what happens to children in such circumstances these days.
Either enter the factory as a child laborer and die on the production line. Or continue to thieve in the street, a little bad luck directly let the people on the street to death is not impossible.
Anyway, no matter what, it is impossible for him to live to adulthood.
Last night, after I talked to my wife about this, she said why don’t we just adopt Adam?
After I thought about it, my wife had a point.
Although my family is a little poor, but, but the child, one is also raised, two is also brought, should, should not be any difference …….” After listening to Tom’s words, all the people here did not say a word, but just looked at Tom in unison and smiled.
Tom’s face red hot, he shyly waved his hand: “What are you all staring at me?”
Elder gave Tom a thumbs up with a toothpick in his mouth, “Bullshit, bro!”
Darwin closed his book, “Officer Tom, just now you kept apologizing to me that you were too stupid to teach. But in my opinion, being stupid isn’t the problem, not having a conscience is.”
Tony, for his part, waved his hand and gave him a smack on the head as he casually laughed and cursed, “Fuck, you kid! I thought you were planning to do something lackluster! What are you hiding something like that for?”
As for Arthur, he stood up and patted Tom on the shoulder, pursing his lips.
“Tom, everyone says I’m the man with the most balls in Scotland Yard. But I don’t agree. Because in my opinion, you are the man with the most balls in Scotland Yard!”
Hearing this, Tom’s reddened face finally couldn’t help but show a hint of a smile as well.
His face was covered in sweat, but that didn’t stop him from standing upright and giving Arthur the most standard salute.
“Learning from you, sir!”
Arthur patted his arm and fished two tickets out of his pocket and stuffed them into his pocket, “Go on. You may not eat, but your meal today is still on me. No refusals allowed, as that’s an order.”
“Yes, sir!”
Arthur looked at Tom as he walked out the door of the cafe, only to feel the dark clouds and drizzle outside the window become somewhat beautiful.
“Gentlemen, feel free to order whatever you want.”
He had just finished saying this when suddenly, the bell in the cafe rang again.
A uniformed police officer pushed the door in, he looked around for a while, and immediately ran over to Arthur after spotting him.
“Sir, there’s a man from the district police station who says he’s looking for you.”
“Looking for me? Is he here to report a crime?”
The officer shook his head, “I don’t think so, that person has been coming for several days in a row. But the previous days you were on vacation, so he pounced on them all, and today, after he knew you were there, he said he had to see you before he was satisfied.”
Elder shivered a mouthful of the oyster he’d just been served and muttered, “What kind of man? So stubborn?”
The officer, who looked like he was also speechless at the uninvited guest, replied, “Quite a strange one anyway, but not like a thug of any kind. He’s dressed all proper and has a cross on his chest, looks like a priest.”
“A priest?” Elder snickered at Arthur, “Couldn’t be an extreme purist of the state religion, deliberately coming to cause trouble for you, a non-state-religious police inspector? Arthur, if you can’t beat him later, why don’t you just change your letter on the spot and save yourself the trouble?”
In fact, Arthur himself is indifferent to religious beliefs, he does not believe in the state religion simply because there are too many state churches in London.
Because Scotland Yard has a troublesome rule, if the police is a nationalist, then every Sunday morning need to form a group to go to the church to worship once.
Arthur had pretended to be Catholic in order to be lazy on Sunday day.
And he also always claimed to be a fundamentalist to the outside world, so for him all the churches in London were not authentic and authentic and did not fit his perception of the church, so he refused to participate in all religious activities organized by Scotland Yard.
If it wasn’t for the fact that unbelievers were not quite socially acceptable in this day and age, Arthur wouldn’t have had to go through all this trouble.
He listened to the officer’s words and sighed helplessly, “Never mind, just take me to meet him.”
(End of chapter)